SovereignHobbies wrote:
I'd be surprised to learn that Royal Sovereign was painted i anything remotely like a "sand" or "tan" colour in 1943 under the Royal Navy.
Given the appalling state of neglect we received her back from Russia in, I'd be equally surprised to learn they'd bothered to paint her at all.
They at least repainted her before return to Britain. On her return to Britain in 1949, compare to the destroyer escort,
Arkhangelsk was painted an all over dark grey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1yfDyo5L7UI know the Soviets painted one or two of their ships (a
Kirov class cruiser and a destroyer I believe) using the tan colour in WW2, in combination with olive/khaki. These camouflages formed the basis for the Russian video game World of Warships in which this olive/tan scheme is utilised on some in-game ships. See attached picture. That ship in question is unrelated to what I'm talking about, but the camouflage theme is historically based.
So the case for the Soviets giving
Arkhangelsk a tan accent, is not entirely unfeasible. Also refer to my previous post with pictures. The last picture shows HMS
Royal Sovereign after her 1943 refit/painting. Note her gun barrels are all grey. Then refer to the 1944 photo flying the Soviet flag - her gun barrels are two tone dark and light, a result of the paintwork by the sailors in preceding picture. So perhaps at the handover in 1944, while still in Britain, the new Soviet crew instead of completely repainting a new camouflage scheme, they merely spruced her up by doing the gun barrels and painting some elements of the hull and superstructure with the tan colour.